According to the statistics from the Department of Health in Taiwan, breast cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths in women today and is the most common cancer among women. There are about one thousand women deceased from the disease which accounts for near 10% of all the women die from cancers. However, breast cancer in not incurable but because most breast cancers that are found only when they are causing symptoms and are more likely to have already spread beyond the breast. In contrast, breast cancers found during screening exams are more likely to be smaller and still confined to the breast. Therefore, through an early detection means that allows earlier diagnosis of breast cancer, not only the chance for diagnosing breast cancer at an early stage is improved and the treatment as well, but also the change for breast cancer recurrence can be reduced.
As we enter the twenty-first century, we are enjoying an abundant lifestyle with increasing income, but the same time that our society as well as the environment around us are changing therewith which leads to the rising in breast cancer rate and also the risk for young women to develop breast cancer is increasing. Thus, it is vital to have sophisticated imaging equipments capable of performing screening exams for early breast cancer detection, since by which not only the person die from the disease can be reduced as breast cancers found during screening exams are more likely to be smaller and still confined to the breast that are easier to be cured, but also the waste in our medical resource and exhaust in our society cost are reduced. Conventionally, there are several imaging means currently available for breast cancer assessment, such as X-ray mammography, ultrasonic mammography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), which are all useful tools for helping physicians with regard to breast cancer diagnosis and identification and thereby, improves the chances that breast cancer can be diagnosed at an early stage and treated successfully.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which shows a breast lesion localization device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,554. The aforesaid breast lesion localization device employs a chest support 11 for holding the patient in a slightly rotated prone position allowing the breast tissue 14 to hang downward and fit through an opening 13 in the supporting plate 11 of the chest support 10, while holding the other breast against the subject away from the imaging region. The breast tissue 14 is fixedly secured by a holding device 15 for enabling an interventional device 16 fitting in the holding device 15 to detect whether there is a lesion existed in the breast tissue 14.
There is another breast inspection apparatus, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,266,407, which employs a plurality of microwave-pulse sources for radiating a breast of a patient to detect whether there is a lesion existed in the breast as the patient is lying on a support while allowing the breast to be exposed to radiation of the plural microwave-pulse sources through an opening of the support. Moreover, there is another breast inspection apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,264,592, which is a breast tomography scanner capable of using an ultrasonic transducer mounted on a chamber to inspect a breast a patient as the patient is lying on a support in a prone position while allowing the breast to dangle through an opening on the support and submerged in a fluid filled in the chamber of the ultrasonic transducer.
Another breast inspection device, being disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,365, is a mammography system with a variable angle adjustable to a standing patient in forwardly leaning posture to maximize breast tissue exposure to the mammography by gravity. In addition, there is a table for positioning a patient for a medical procedure on a breast, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,922,869, which is a plate being surrounded by a solid frame that is configured with an aperture for the breast to be pendantly suspended therethrough.